If you ever dare mention to your stylist or whatever that you bought hair dye , shampoo or what have you at the store they will usually gasp in horror and say something like "that will wreck your hair!"

Are the over the counter hair products really so bad? Is the salon stuff an overpriced scam?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I use a hairdryer to straighten my hair, a few times a week, and the good straightening shampoo I bought makes a huge difference. On the other hand I can use any old crappy gel, and get the same results as my $25 bottle of gel.

I don't think regular drugstore shampoo will wreck the hair of a guy who cuts his hair short, but for a woman who uses a lot of product and heat a nicer shampoo/conditioner/product is gonna help more than your standard bottle of Prell.

Yes. I have long hair, and I used to color it at home with store-bought dye, and it was very damaging to my hair - it would quickly get dry and brittle and the color would fade. Then I started getting it professionally colored at a salon and the difference was like night and day. My long hair stays healthy and does not seem damaged at all.

I have also used many, many different salon-brand as well as store-bought shampoos and conditioners (probably tried every brand available at least once), and usually the salon-brands are much better. Again, I have long, colored hair, so it is more fragile and needy than a dude with short hair, so it needs more care.

There's a lot more info on this if you use the Googles to your benefit. But the short answer is this: Splurge on Shampoo, Save on Conditioner. Shampoo cleanses your hair, and if it's cheap, will strip the essential oils, making it frizzy, dry, etc.

Whole Foods's 365 brand shampoo costs what Pantene costs, and has no parabens - it's my personal favorite. Sometimes I use paul mitchell Tea Tree - the shampoo only. And Aussie conditioner - it has been repped a few times by beauty people when asked when to "spend or splurge". You don't want Suave conditioner, but a mid-level conditioner at the drug store or your local Target/Walmart/etc will work just fine. Occasionally you'll want to deep-condition your hair as well if it's normal, frizzy, or thick in any way.

For the most part, salon people lie to you. Years after I stopped highlighting my hair, I was finally told how horrible it was by my stylist (I knew it from research, but they lie). At the time, she knew I did the 4 most lethal things you can do to hair: Dried, Dyed, Straightened, and Swam.

If you're a guy, even though you don't need conditioner to de-tangle your hair, as most women do, you absolutely still need a conditioner. If you're a Head & Shoulders guy - like 75% of the men I seem to know are - simply buy the same Head & Shoulders, but get the "2 in 1", which is the shampoo and conditioner combo.

I travelled four hundred miles round trip on the advice of a doctor here to see a doctor who was a hair specialist in Atlanta. He was fantastic and solved my hair problem quickly. (He also spotted another problem that I was about to have and put a stop to that.)

Anyway, I asked him what was the best shampoo and conditioner to use. Without any hesitation he said, "White Rain or Suave." That was many, mamyy years ago and I've never used anything else. My hair is healthier than it's ever been.

I had read for myself that in blind studies women chose White Rain, and I was wondering if he would back that up.

I'm just glad that it is a cheapie. (I always loved the smell of Nexus though.)

Yes. I have long hair, and I used to color it at home with store-bought dye, and it was very damaging to my hair - it would quickly get dry and brittle and the color would fade. Then I started getting it professionally colored at a salon and the difference was like night and day. My long hair stays healthy and does not seem damaged at all.

You know, I've been coloring my hair at home with cheap stuff from Walmart for 11 years, with very rare salon colorings mixed in. Stylists and students (the lady who has cut my hair for years now runs a beauty college, so she lets the students practice shampooing and blow drying on me) routinely comment on how very soft and smooth my hair is, regardless of the length. Hell, my hair feels even better right after I color it.

Of course, I have baby-fine hair and I'm pretty gentle on it, so that probably has a lot to do with it. I shampoo every couple-three days, condition religiously, and don't heat style it or use any more product than is absolutely necessary.

I think salon shampoos and conditioners are somewhat better, but they're not the 5x better you'd expect from the price differential.

I have tried well over 15 or so brands of shampoo/conditioner including cheapies and salon brands. I have very dry, coarse hair and the best product IMO is plain ole Pantene. Especially their conditioner, it leaves my hair much softer and less frizzy.

I know at least one stylist who thinks Pantene is absolutely disgusting but after wasting $30 on her recommendations, I beg to differ.

Have always used Pantene shampoo and conditioner and have no complaints whatsoever. I've also used Infusium products, and they are great, too. I get my hair colored at a salon and my hairdresser NEVER FAILS to try to sell me some salon products that just happen to be on sale - she must get a commission or something. The products change all the time. I don't have the extra $15 to spare, sorry. I don't think there's any miracle potion that's going to save the color on your hair or make it into the hair on the models in shampoo commercials. The lady who wrote the "Don't Go To The Beauty Counter Without Me" book wrote one on hair products and I believe the consensus is, you are paying for a name on the bottle and maybe the perfume. Any added ingredients to make it special are in such small amoounts that it doesn't make any difference at all in cleaning and conditioning. So if you want to buy salon stuff at $20 a bottle, knock yourself out.

There's a lot more info on this if you use the Googles to your benefit. But the short answer is this: Splurge on Shampoo, Save on Conditioner. Shampoo cleanses your hair, and if it's cheap, will strip the essential oils, making it frizzy, dry, etc.

Her advice is completely wrong when it comes to my hair. Shampoo is shampoo, the wrong kind of conditioner will double the amount of time I have to spend detangling it. No conditioner will triple the time.

I have tried well over 15 or so brands of shampoo/conditioner including cheapies and salon brands. I have very dry, coarse hair and the best product IMO is plain ole Pantene. Especially their conditioner, it leaves my hair much softer and less frizzy.

I know at least one stylist who thinks Pantene is absolutely disgusting but after wasting $30 on her recommendations, I beg to differ.

I like Pantene, too. I have tried a few others, not so vast an array. My hair is pretty thick, has a tendency towards being oily, etc. And I've always found Pantene fine, just fine. I don't really do a lot to my hair, so I'm not too picky about how it turns out. I've always been happy with it. Yeah, Pantene!

Shampoo is shampoo, the wrong kind of conditioner will double the amount of time I have to spend detangling it. No conditioner will triple the time.

Of course my advice doesn't apply to 100% of people, but for the vast majority. It goes without saying that if you have extra-thick or extra curly hair, you will have to use a creamier, thicker conditioner - just as if you have baby-fine hair, you will need a tiny amount of thin or watered-down conditioner. A few friends I know swear by Neutrogena t-gel for their extra dry scalps - there is no one-size-fits all, but there are rules of thumb.

That said, a jar of Fructis deep conditioning or Aussie's 3-minute miracle works just as well as an expensive salon brand. It's the same concept as people who swear that absurdly expensive face creams work better than a store brand. You buy into the marketing hype, you feel that what you're paying for is superior to cheaper alternatives, and you ardently stand by your opinions.

A good example is Olay Regenerist, which is between $22-30 a jar, beat out several creams, topping out at $350 apiece. If you talk to a decent dermatologist (that isn't trying to sell you on botox, etc), they'll tell you Olay and Retin-A are the best lotion/cream wrinkle reducers.

Of course my advice doesn't apply to 100% of people, but for the vast majority. It goes without saying that if you have extra-thick or extra curly hair, you will have to use a creamier, thicker conditioner - just as if you have baby-fine hair, you will need a tiny amount of thin or watered-down conditioner. A few friends I know swear by Neutrogena t-gel for their extra dry scalps - there is no one-size-fits all, but there are rules of thumb.[/URL]

Hm. Well, I now use a two in one shampoo/conditioner but for years I never used conditioner (before that), and I have really thick hair, but I never noticed much difference.

The only certain thing about the quality of hair care products is if you ask what works and what doesn't you'll get 50 different responses from 50 different people who all share the unanimous view that you are a moron.

FWIW, I have really dry skin so I use the store-brand versions of Neutrogena T-Gel. Coal tar shampoos actually have some medical science behind them (they strip away dead skin cells, so they appear to reduce dandruff), unlike say, "Pro-Vitamin B5" (allegedly the active ingredient in Pantene) which actually does have therapeutic value, but only if ingested.